Its a bit early to be thinking about lights but....

andyrr

Mine are now being delivered according to the tracking number, hopefully delivery this week. Showed as awaiting supplier for a good week or so.

bails87

Mine were the same, 2 weeks of waiting for supplier, now got a tracking number.

There are a few UK based sellers of the magic shine lights, they sell with a full 12 month warranty. Some also swap the standard battery for a fancy German waterproof/shockproof/apocalypse proof guaranteed version. You can buy these on their own as an upgrade for £60.

ride_whenever

There is only one light worth getting for commuting, particularly in the dark.

The supernova airstream.

Doesn't blind oncoming cars due to the beam shape, but stupidly bright with more than enough definition for fast descending in the dark.


I use this despite having brighter off-road lights purely because of the beam shape being ideal for road use with other road users.

SECommuter

I bought the Dealextreme (magicshine copy) and have it helmet mounted. I bought the mount direct from Magicshine about £8 , I also bought the extension cable and keep the battery in my backpack.

I have a similar commute, about 4 miles in unlit country lanes and I keep this light on full beam to flood the road with light . The ability to direct it is also useful, when you see cars nudging their noses out of side turnings, you can give them "the Dalek" to ensure they have seen you.

I also have a pair of Niteriders mounted on the bars on flash mode. On the rear, I have the Magicshine 818 rearlight. I am lit up like a christmas tree, but I would rather be seen on some of these country lanes, with cars zipping around at 60mph.

I started using them in Jan/Feb this year and have had no problems.

prb007

anyone tried this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1300-Lumens-C ... 4840be73be

seems a bargain for £15; paired with a bar mount for a couple of £

also picked up this from Wiggle, the other day..

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-tl-ld610 ... ear-light/

+1 for being lit up like a Christmas tree;
if they're laughing at you, at least they've seen you

drawblood

Got me a pair of Ayups for the 20 mile commute to Reading as very few street lights on my route - a friend recomended them - they will burn the hiar of your legs at 20 paces!!!

kiwimatt

prb007 wrote:

anyone tried this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1300-Lumens-C ... 4840be73be

seems a bargain for £15; paired with a bar mount for a couple of £

With only 1x18650 cell it must be upscaling (not sure if that's the right term) voltage to 7.4V? quite demanding on a single cell so I don't think the runtime is going to be too clever? Could easy carry a few spare cells and slap them when it runs out in I suppose

No progress on the DX order still not shipped

iPete

Personally went for, 'you get what you pay for', skipped all the Chinese stuff and splashed out on a Hope combo, been running it most of the summer; low sun and random down pours make it reassuring to have the rear light on all the time.

Ideal if you can store you bike inside at both ends, otherwise bit of a fiddle.

Hope District & Battery with splitter cable running to the Hope 2 up front.

bungalballs

Has anyone tried the "T6" lights from Lumen junkies? They look very similar to the Migicshines with P7 lights, but claim to be an upgrade. £48 looks too good to be true for some 1200 lumen lights!

cyberknight

Another +1 for the DX Magicshines, mine was bought last year and is still going strong.

They also do a MS rear light that runs off the same battery , you can either run 2 battery packs or 1 with a y splitter cable for less run time.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/magicshine ... uded-42077

car.crash

my £30 light arrived today from deal extreme, it seems very bright. its currently in a jar sealed up and on charge incase it catches fire.

davis

car.crash wrote:

my £30 light arrived today from deal extreme, it seems very bright. its currently in a jar sealed up and on charge incase it catches fire.

Ummm you do know that, if anything, sealing it up will make it more dangerous, right? If batteries are going to go bang, they're going to go bang, but keeping all the nasty gasses that might well leak out of a dodgy battery in a confined space ain't really the best idea.

BigChimping

I would say Ayup's I have a set and they are brilliant! I have 6 hour batteries and I get about 8 hours worth of light out of them even though they do start to dull after 6 hours. You can also get a head strap to make an insanely good head torch.

car.crash

davis wrote:

car.crash wrote:

my £30 light arrived today from deal extreme, it seems very bright. its currently in a jar sealed up and on charge incase it catches fire.

Ummm you do know that, if anything, sealing it up will make it more dangerous, right? If batteries are going to go bang, they're going to go bang, but keeping all the nasty gasses that might well leak out of a dodgy battery in a confined space ain't really the best idea.

i will take my chances. i dont see why having them in a thick glass jar will do any harm. the gas will be minimal anyway.

andyrr

My £30 DX's also arrived a couple of days ago (seemed to remain in UK postal system for ages ..) - not sure but these may be even brighter than the last set (25149s) I had, seriously thinking about a 2nd set as it comes with a head strap and I could couple the bar light with a helmet light for secondary/backup light.
Having just tried the headstrap it comes with I can't get it to actualkly stay secure on the helmet so would remove the light holder from the strap and sip-tie on. Would work well though.
£28 is a pretty good bargain, surely NO bike lights (excluding torches) come close to the performance at that price ?

fossyant

The cheaper Magicshine copies take a 2.5mm plug, the originals take a 2.1mm. All is not lost if you have spare batteries / light heads as you can get adapters from Maplin for less than £2.

I've just ordered the newer Magicshine 808E, which has the new Cree LED T6. This has the Mk3 battery - i.e. rubber sealed and I've got two older batteries too.

I have Hope 1's on the road bike, but I'll pop the Magicshine on the MTB for quick get aways when the weather is bad.

I've also got the Magicshine rears - these are outstanding. I decided to build my own 6 x AA pack for each light though - worked out at only a few pounds (plus batteries) as I have a raft of smart chargers, and didn't fancy charging the Li-po batteries un- attended - especially in work.

prb007

Got my £28 MagicShine-a'like from DX yesterday, and after a full
charge, its,' well, blindingly bright
Random feature; after joining the cable from the batt pack
to the lamp after charging, if the lamp is aready switched
on, it flashes SOS :shock:

Lidl atm, are doing their generic brand 'Crivit' helmets
for a tenner, with a 3-mode red LED built into the rear
and are also doing the snap-on 3M spoke reflectors for a fiver, too

kiwimatt

prb007 wrote:

Got my £28 MagicShine-a'like from DX yesterday

I must have an unlucky Chinese order number with not enough 8's in it or something, a full month after ordering mine are still showing by the HK postal service as "being processed for departure from Hong Kong as of 8-Sep-2011" - wasn't expecting the Orient express but still

Just as well daylight saving doesn't end until next month... :roll:

bails87

kiwimatt
I ordered mine on the 6th August and they arrived last week.

prb007
Mine does this too :? I turn it off, disconnect the battery, reconnect and it starts strobing at me!

prb007

Pity the whole DX buying experience is so woolly,I think they would get a lot
more UK based trade, if their website was a bit clearer about stock levels, their follow
up emails were a bit more honest & specific - just my two penn'orth